//------------------------------// // Jackets, Tokens, Parties, and Muffins. Can't forget the Muffins. // Story: Son of a Kaiju! // by Storm Shine //------------------------------// I yawned and stretched as I woke up, getting out of bed to better stretch my legs. Once I'd woken up enough, I went downstairs. Upon my arrival downstairs I had something that smelled like food shoved into one hand, while my other hand was used to pull me outside. "Wha?" I asked, my mind trying to process this odd turn. "That there's an apple fritter, go on and eat it an' we'll getcha started learnin' ta help work the field." Applejack explained, pulling me towards the nearest gathering of trees. I shrugged, quickly mowing down on the food in my hand as my mind caught up, allowing me to actually start walking instead of continuing to get dragged. By the time I'd finished what was probably the best fritter I've had in my life, we were already at the nearest tree. "Now then, based on what I've heard from Twi, ya should be strong enough to help us buck the apples an' carry 'em back." She told me as we stopped I shrugged for the second time that day, "Probably... what do you mean by 'buck the apples'?" I asked curiously. Instead of responding verbally, she looked at the tree and did a martial-arts-style kick thing. She moved forward, pivoting on her lead foot and bringing the other down to take it's place, slamming the originally pivoting foot into the base of the tree. The tree shook slightly, a veritable rain of apples falling into the buckets I hadn't even noticed until now. Wow, I use a lot of overly complicated words and stuff when I'm tired. weird... "All right, now let's see what you've got." She told me, pointing at another nearby tree. I walked over to the tree, eyeing it up. It was fairly big, with lots of ripe and juicy looking apples hanging from it's branches. "Don't feel bad if ya can't do it on yer first try." Applejack told me from behind, "Most can't quite get the timing of the kick right, takes a few tries. Ah didn't even get it right the first time ah tried." Meh, why go through all those motions when I could probably just punch the tree? And so I did, I punched it right in the knot. After I did that, the poor tree shook violently for a bit with a couple of odd groans, before pretty much every apple jumped ship; throwing themselves into the barrels for safety. Well, that's how I saw it at least... Most would probably just say it rained apples or something, but what's the fun in that? I turned back to the slack-jawed mare behind me, "Is that good?" I asked curiously, wondering when she'd stop imitating a fish. I mean it's kinda fun to do sometimes, but I usually only do that when there's fish around. I think it makes them more comfortable around me. And before you ask, no genderless voice-in-my-head, I'm not crazy. I just like to look at the world differently than some people. "Uh... Doesn't that hurt yer hand any?" Applejack finally managed to ask, pointing at the hand I'd used to introduce myself to my new tree buddy. I looked at my hand, flexing it slightly "No, not really. Should it hurt?" Maybe it was the scales, nice smooth in some places but rough in others. They make great armor, so I guess it might have hurt to do that if it weren't for my awesome scales. "Honestly, ah'm not sure if that should've hurt ya. But I do know that most ponies probably would've hurt themselves tryin' that, even mah brother Big Mac wouldn't have tried that." She replied, shaking her head. Probably already deciding that it was better off not putting me to pony standards. Possibly. It might even help prevent headaches in the future. "Anyways, Twi wanted me to let ya know that Rarity finished your coat an' such. I'll let ya go pick it up, but I expect you to be back soon to help out in the field." She told me, gesturing out towards town. I smiled and thanked her before running off towards town, letting a large dust cloud tag along behind me. Oh man, I really really hope she made it blue! I quickly arrived at Rarity's clothing shop, happily walking in through the front door. "Hey Rarity, Applejack said that you finished my coat?" I called out to the mare, smiling. Come on blue! Let it be blue, let it be blue... Rarity quickly appeared from somewhere in the store with something draped over her arms, "Yes, I did and they look absolutely wonderful, if I do say so myself. Though I really think they would've been better if you had let me to put a bit more flair into them..." She told me, handing over a couple pairs of the jacket. "Just in case one should get ruined. I hate to even think that something terrible might happen to the clothes but I have had several dresses ruined by rather unexpected circumstances, so I thought it best to be safe." I quickly shrugged one on, admiring the dark blue color. Sure it stood out against my orange skin, but what can I say? I like blue. "Thanks Rarity, you're amazing!" I exclaimed happily, bringing her in for a hug. "These are absolutely perfect!" Rarity had a bit of red on her otherwise perfectly white cheeks and coughed slightly as I let go. "Yes, well... I do try." She said. "Though you know, you should really be more aware of personal space." I tilted my head as I thought about that, "You know, lots of people have told me something like that." I shrugged helplessly, "But I just can't help it, I like showing affection to my friends." Rarity shook her head slightly, "You and Pinkie would get along great, I bet." She decided. "Pinkie? Pinkie who?" I asked. "Pinkie Pie, a friend of mine. I'm sure you'll be meeting her soon enough." Rarity said dismissively. "Oh, okay. Well I'd better get back to the farm, Applejack said she wanted me back right away to start working and stuff." I replied, waving as I walked out the door. "Bye Rarity!" "Bye Duncan, I hope you enjoy your new jacket." Rarity replied, watching as I left. "I wonder how he'll react to Pinkie's party..." She asked herself as she got back to work. I'm just going to say it. This is boring~! I mean sure, it was fun to watch the apples all somehow miraculously fall into their buckets like they were trained acrobats... For the first three or four times. Now that magic is gone, I'm faced with the reality of this boring work. I bet the trees are laughing at me now, like 'Haha, not as fun to hit us as you thought it would be, huh?' and stuff. Well if they didn't want to be hit, then they really should've chosen someplace else to grow. Oh well. After I finished off another few trees and brought some buckets back, I paused. "Hmm..." I hummed, thinking about the gem in my pocket. There were supposed to be like.. Token things and stuff for the displaced, right? So they could meet and greet, and help and stuff. Maybe I should try making one. I set the apple baskets down with the rest, walking outside as I took the pink gem from my pocket. "Lemme see here... Umm..." I scratched my head as I thought about how this would work. "I think it's something like energy and a message and then toss." Well, if my friends were to be believed. Though it makes me wonder how people know so much about this displaced stuff if they were, ya know, Displaced. Did they find a way to talk to friends and family or something? Oh well, on with the token making. I bathed the gem in my fire for a few minutes, causing it to shine brightly. Once I cut the flames off the remnants seemed to be sucked inside, creating a sort of inner fire effect... Cool. Anyways, time to add a message. "Yo, I'm Duncan Rosenblatt, the Half-Kaiju Firebreather here! Feel free to call on me for help with fighting, problem solving, or just to hang out." I said before tossing the gem forward, watching as it vanished. Guess they were right... Not the most well-worded message, but it works. Somehow the weirdest part of all this isn't the fact that it worked, but that I somehow managed to get my gem back. I'm not even sure how either, I just suddenly felt it in my pocket again. Though I have to wonder how the heck anybody knew this stuff. Seriously... I shrugged before getting back to work, striking it off as another of life's mysteries that I may never know... I leaned backwards as I walked, sighing in satisfaction when my back popped. Yep, that's better. I was currently walking to someplace called 'Sugarcube Corner' after Applejack suggested it, giving me a small bag of bits for the day's hard work and telling me to get myself a treat. Once she mentioned Muffins I was sold. I mean, who can resist that? I probably should've asked for directions though, I doubt I'm going to just stumble across it. I stopped in front of what seemed like a giant candy house. I've heard of gingerbread houses before, but that is just... Awesome! I quickly ran up to the giant dessert, sniffing it to see if it was real, and pouting when I found out it wasn't. I looked up at the sky to question why the gods would torment me with such a delicious looking fake, and noticed a sign proclaiming 'Sugarcube Corner'. Well, at least there's sweet-tooth sating items inside, right? Yay! Hmm... It was oddly dark as I walked in. I'd almost think the place was closed if it wasn't for the 'open' sign and the unlocked door. And then... "SURPRISE!" A large crowd called out as the lights came on, a particularly quick pink pony quickly shoving a party hat on my head and pulling me in for a hug. Even as surprised and confused as I was, I happily hugged the pink mare back. Once I regained my bearings, I looked at the pink pony. "This... Is... AWESOME!" I exclaimed happily, swinging her in a circle before placing her back on her hooves. Turns out they actually have somewhat odd hooves for feet but hands for hands. go figure. "I'm glad you like it! I would've gotten your 'Welcome to Ponyville party together yesterday, but I didn't have a chance. So I got it together today!" She blew on a noisemaker, "I'm Pinkie pie!" "My name's Duncan and I love parties!" I told her excited, immediately launching into the tale about the first time I threw my friends a party as I nabbed a muffin from the snack table. She nodded along at some points, inserting some tips and opinions on the parties themselves at others. Once I finished talking about my first party, we went back and forth trading party stories. "And that's all the parties I've thrown so far." I finished, happily scarfing down my forty-third muffin. Pinkie (I learned her name during our talk) giggled, "Always nice to meet a new pony, especially a fellow party-lover!" We exchanged a little more small talk before she bounced, literally bounced, off to make sure 'everypony' else was having fun. I like her, she's cheerful. And she throws parties with muffins. Muffins. Any person, pony, or other creature who plans a party with a good supply of muffins is okay in my book! After a bit at the 'muffin-bar' as I called the table that held seemingly infinite amounts of muffins, another mare came over. This one had grey fur and wings along with pretty gold eyes, though they seemed a bit skewed. Her mane and tail were also of the gold-ish coloring. I have this feeling that we're going to be great friends. She gazed at the huge table of muffins with drool hanging out of the corner of her mouth. "Muffins~..." Yep. We're gonna be awesome friends! "You should try the lemon poppyseed! It's absolutely amazing. Then again, muffins in general are amazing..." I told her, trailing off thoughtfully at the end. "Mmm... Muffins..." Yeah, I sorta fell into a muffin trance. I randomly reached out, nabbing the Nth muffin for the night. Oh come on, you really can't expect me to keep track of how many muffins I've eaten so far, can you? I ate forty three during the party conversation alone, and that was only a half-hour conversation! "I like the lemon surprise best." The mare replied, snagging one of the lemon poppyseeds for herself. "But you're right, muffins are all amazing." We smiled at one another, beginning to converse about muffins. We didn't stop until the party was almost over, because the awesomeness that is muffins demands a proper conversation. Between the two of us, we managed to prove my 'Infinite Muffin Table' theory wrong by the time the conversation ended. "Mommy, we've gotta go." An adorable little unicorn girl said sleepily, tugging on Derpy's (Yes, I learned about her name in the conversation too. You'd be surprised at how much you can learn during a conversation about muffins, Voice.) sleeve. "Okay my little Muffin." Derpy replied, picking the kid up in her arms. "Sorry Duncan, I've gotta get Dinky home so she can get some rest for school tomorrow." She explained apologetically. "No no, I totally understand!" I replied with a smile, waving my hands in front of me. "She needs her rest. I hope you see you around though Derpy, you're the first fellow Muffin enthusiast that I've had a conversation with in... Ever!" She nodded, "Yeah! Maybe you can stop by sometime for muffins." Dinky yawned, "Yeah, mommy makes the best muffins." "I definitely will! After all, who can resist an offer of muffins?" We shared a small laugh before waving goodbye. It was already getting pretty late, so I took a bit of initiative and helped Pinkie clean up most of the party mess before thanking her for the party and leaving. By the time I made it back to the dirt road leading to the farm house, it was already well into the night. The moon was out and it was a cloudless night, giving me something to light the way and admire on the way back. "Man, I know I should be upset at being thrown into all of this or something... But it's just so cool! I've already met two others kinda like me, one with muffins and one with parties and stuff, and I've got a pretty good job and cool powers!" I sighed happily. "My only real problems here are that I have no idea where Tony and Dante are... Well, maybe we'll be re-united one day. But in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my new life to the fullest!" I pumped my fist happily. Unfortunately, I had no idea that very soon, I would be adding more problems to my little list. BIG problems.